Samuel Knot
Research Mentor(s): Ji Yeon Hong
Mentor Department: Political Science
Authors: Ji Yeon Hong
Session: Session 3 (11:00am – 11:50am)
Presentation Type: Poster 56
Abstract
Post-colonial countries that gained independence after World War II often experienced a decline in levels of democracy in the first decades of independence. The result was found consistently across four different democratic indices. One hypothesis to explain this pattern is that fears for the state’s survival promote executive aggrandizement by legitimizing overreach to secure survival. This project seeks to establish qualitative, historical explanations for these observed democratic trends while testing the above hypothesis. The method was to take a specific country and survey academic research, constitutions, and other historical materials to explore five case studies comprising Indonesia, Bangladesh, DR Congo, Syria, and Nigeria. This study specifically looks into 1) the path to independence and the colonizer’s role in it; 2) the level of preparation by the colonial government for democracy; 3) the background of the first leader; 4) the path to democracy following independence; 5) the first elections and constitution; and 6) the causes and symptoms of the democratic decline. Overall, the study supports the hypothesis but presents additional avenues for further research, especially the role of salient social cleavages in the independent country and legislative gridlock and ineffectiveness. From this perspective, attempts to improve global democracy should aim to build more crisis-resistant political institutions and, if possible, reduce the crises younger democracies face.
